I disagree. It is usually necessary to specify “openly gay” because in most cases the sentence would be false if the word “openly” was omitted. Reid is probaly not the first CMA President who is gay. There likely have been gay CMA presidents before, but we can’t be sure because they were not out.

Similarly, if ever an openly gay man became President of the USA, it would be untrue to say that he was the first gay President, since there have been one or more closeted gay President.

The word “openly” does not imply anything negative, unlike “self-confessed” or “admitted,” which were the terms used in the past.

My doctor here in Oslo ( Norway ) is gay, and he doesn’t conceal it. My dentist is gay, married to a gay psychologist. They are honest and tell openly about themselves if anybody should ask.—And my physiologist is both a neighbour and gay- without concealing his sexual identity. Why this “noise” about a lesbian Canadian doctor ?

The reason this is newsworthy, IMHO, is that her position and that of the new United Church of Canada moderator are elected positions in organizations that are historically quite conservative. Their memberships seem to have adopted the motto of Brian and Patrick Burke’s NHL anti-homophobia group: “If you can play, you can play.”

(The news coverage I saw at the time of the CMA meeting in Yellowknife, NWT, mentioned she was First Nations and an ER doc. Nothing about her sexual orientation.) BTW, I have to keep reminding myself that American soil is only 67 km away….and about 400 years by all appearances!

The prime ministers of Iceland and Belgium are “open” homosexuals. Six of the representatives in the Norwegian Parliament are “open” homosexuals. The chief police person in Norway was “openly” GAY, married to a man ( two children)-and newspapers did not bother to discuss it.He was accepted – a 100%. Berlin and Paris have had “openly” gay lord-mayors- AND on the other “side”—hundreds of thousands gay, lesbians and transgender persons march in Pride parades all around the world- without fear of showing their faces–people from ALL kinds of political parties, religious groups etc. etc. They are the “brave” ones. To a large degree The World has changed in favour of US !! ( With exceptions, of course-) Paul from Brighton !- I agree with you- Greetings from old Helge in Oslo !

—and by the way: The British Embassy marched in The Pride Parade in Stockholm, Sweden in 2011, with a huge banner. (Thank You U. K.) And so did The American Embassy in Stockholm this year ! (— Fear is mans worst enemy– )

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